Rocket

Spacetech pioneer Agnikul Cosmos draws roadmap for fully-reusable rockets

Agnikul's in-house development facilities are one of the main driving forces of this new attempt, with every patent and system designed to support more affordable, customisable launch services

Rocket raises $15 mn Seed funding to fuel global app-building push

AI-powered app-builder Rocket secures $15 million Seed funding led by Salesforce Ventures and Accel, to expand globally with a new headquarters in North America

Trump announces that Space Command is moving from Colorado to Alabama

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that US Space Command will be located in Alabama, reversing a Biden-era decision to keep it at its temporary headquarters in Colorado. The long-expected decision from Trump caps a four-year tug of war between two states and opposing administrations about where to locate US Space Command, an intense fight because the headquarters would be a significant boon to the local economy. Alabama and Colorado have long battled to claim Space Command, with elected officials from both states asserting their state is the better location. The US Space Command headquarters will move to the beautiful locale of a place called Huntsville, Alabama, forever to be known from this point forward as Rocket City, said Trump, flanked by Republican members of Alabama's congressional delegation, from the Oval Office on Tuesday. We had a lot of competition for this and Alabama's getting it." Trump said Huntsville won the race for the Space Command headquarters, in par

China's Tianlong-3 rocket cleared for commercial launch a year after crash

Chinese space tech firm Space Pioneer passes critical test of its redesigned Tianlong-3 rocket after a year of its launch accident. It has set a tentative launch date for July-August 2025

India tests extended range anti-submarine rocket system to boost navy power

India has tested an extended range anti-submarine rocket system that is expected to significantly enhance the Indian Navy's fire power. The user trials of Extended Range Anti-Submarine Rocket (ERASR) have been successfully carried out from INS Kavaratti, officials said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence Research Development Organisation, Indian Navy and the industry involved in development and trials of the system. "He has added that the successfully induction of this system will boost the striking power of the Indian Navy," Singh's office said on 'X'.

Test trials of rocket launch held in UP ahead of student competition

A successful model rocket launching test was conducted in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district, marking the first time a payload was launched via a rocket from the state, officials said. The test conducted on Saturday by the Astronautical Society of India in association with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) saw the model rocket ascend 1.12 km at 5:14:33 PM, a complete success. ISRO scientist Abhishek Singh, who was present at the test site, said, "The rocket was launched at 5:14 PM and 33 seconds, which went up to a height of 1.1 km. After this, a small satellite (payload) came out. As soon as it fell down to 5 metres, its parachute activated and the satellite landed within 400 metres on the ground." The 15 kg rocket also descended safely. This test was part of IN-SPACe Model Rocketry/CANSAT India Student Competition 2024-25 and a prelude to a larger event in October-November, where around 900 ...

European startup Isar Aerospace to launch orbital rocket on 1st test flight

A private European aerospace company is set to make the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway on Monday. The launch window for its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andoya in northern Norway is 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm local time, said Isar Aerospace, which is headquartered in Munich. The launch is subject to weather, safety and range infrastructure, and the company said it also could conduct the test flight later in the week. The 28-meter- (91-foot-) Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. The company largely rules out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight, saying it would consider a 30-second flight a success. Isar Aerospace aims to collect as much data and experience as possible on the first integrated test of all the systems on its in-house-developed launch vehicle. The startup, which says it has raised more than 400 million euros ($435 million) in capital, hopes to build up to

L&T bets on space exploration as India expands private rocket industry

At its factory in Coimbatore, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, L&T is assembling the country's first privately built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)

Musk's SpaceX delays Starship launch to address issues with rocket

Starship was slated to launch from SpaceX's Starbase facility in south Texas on a roughly one-hour mission

Bezos' Blue Origin bracing for large job cuts after years of expansion

The magnitude of the job cuts wasn't immediately clear, though one of the people said it will be at least in the hundreds of jobs and potentially reach one thousand or more employees

Boeing to lay off about 400 workers on its SLS moon rocket programme

The US aerospace company cited revisions to NASA's Artemis program and cost expectations

Defence ministry to sign Rs 10,200 cr Pinaka rocket deal with Solar, MIL

DRDO is already in the advanced stages of making a 120 km strike version of the Pinaka rockets and is expected to carry out its first test in the next financial year

Bezos' Blue Origin calls off New Glenn rocket launch mins before countdown

Blue Origin called off the debut launch of its massive new rocket early Monday because of technical trouble. The 320-foot (98-meter) New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn with a prototype satellite from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. But launch controllers had to deal with an unspecified rocket issue in the final minutes of the countdown and ran out of time. Once the countdown clock was halted, they immediately began draining all the fuel from the rocket. Blue Origin did not immediately set a new launch date, saying the team needed more time to resolve the problem. The test flight already had been delayed by rough seas that posed a risk to the company's plan to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic. New Glenn is named after the first American to orbit Earth, John Glenn. It is five times taller than Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket that carries paying customers to the edge of space from Texas. Amazon's Jeff Bezos founded

Bezos' Blue Origin prepares for inaugural launch of its New Glenn rocket

The mission, the culmination of a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar development journey, will include an attempt to land New Glenn's first stage booster on a sea-fairing barge in the Atlantic Ocean

Tamil Nadu startup launches country's first hybrid reusable rocket

Sets new standards for rapid space missions; the rocket launches three Cube satellites into orbit to study atmospheric conditions

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin suffers fiery setback building new rocket

The previously unreported incidents illustrate the hurdles Blue Origin is grappling with while ramping up production of New Glenn

China's iSpace rocket fails soon after launch, losing 3 weather satellites

A Chinese rocket start-up has suffered yet another launch failure, resulting in the loss of three satellites as part of a commercial constellation being assembled for global weather forecasting and earthquake prediction. Hyperbola-1 a 24-metre (79ft) high solid-fuel rocket produced by iSpace lifted off on Thursday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China's Gobi Desert. The rocket's first, second and third stages flew normally, but the fourth stage suffered an anomaly and the launch mission ended in failure, the company said, adding that the specific reasons for the failure would be announced as soon as possible after detailed investigations, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Friday. The relatively small Hyperbola-1, which can deliver a 300 kg (661 pounds) payload into a 500 km (311 miles) sun-synchronous orbit, was carrying Yunyao-1 weather satellites 15, 16 and 17 for the Tianjin-based Yunyao Aerospace Technology company. The satellites did not re

China's Tianlong-3 rocket crashes into mountains after launch during test

A powerful Chinese rocket crashed after an "accidental launch during a ground test on Sunday due to a structural failure, a private company responsible for the rocket said. Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology, said in a statement that the Tianlong-3 rocket was unexpectedly launched during a static-fire test at a facility in Gongyi county in Henan province. Luckily it landed in a hilly area of the city of Gongyi and the company said there were no injuries as people in the area were evacuated in advance of the rocket test. The nine engines of the rocket, stated to be the most powerful in the country, fired in the afternoon on Sunday were lifted off because of a structural failure at the connection between the rocket body and the test platform, the company said. Space Pioneer is one of several private aerospace companies that are developing medium-lift, reusable rockets to help China assemble its satellite constellations comparable to SpaceX's Starlink. Residents

Chinese rocket Tianlong-3 crashes after accidental launch during test

Incident occurred when the first stage of the Tianlong-3 rocket detached from its launch pad due to a structural failure

Isro Chairman inaugurates HAL facilities, boosting rocket manufacturing

ISRO Chairman S Somanath inaugurated state-of-the-art propellant tank production and computer numerical control (CNC) machining facilities at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Aerospace Division here, boosting rocket manufacturing capacity . HAL said the facilities would provide a major boost to ISRO's ability to meet its growing production needs, particularly for the Launch Vehicle Mark3, India's heaviest and most powerful rocket. Currently, the existing capacity allows for only two LVM3 launches per year, whereas ISRO's requirements stand at six launches annually, according to an HAL statement on Wednesday. The facilities will address this gap, enabling HAL to manufacture enough critical components to support the production of six LVM3 rockets per year, it said. Somanath was quoted as saying in the statement that HAL has enormous capacities and this potential should be explored in the larger interest of both the organisations. "HAL will play a larger role in ISRO's future missions